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visual development “Things start out badly, then they get better; then, after a long time, they get worse again.” (Movshon’s general law on visual development, Teller & Movshon, 1986) Visual development is not a homogeneous process. It might be possible to map it in terms of the maturational pattern of cortical connectivity.

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Eric R. Kandel – Nobel in 2000; signal transduction in the nervous system Two steps in synaptic plasticity short-term memory (protein phosphorylation in synapses) long-term memory (protein synthesis, which can lead to alterations in shape and function of the synapse) The switch from short- to long-term memory requires gene expression. (modification of chromatin structure, chromatin is the DNA-protein complex that constitutes chromosomes)

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Switch from short- to long-term memory in humans Animal models are limited in terms of stimulus complexity and the duration of training. Not clear how mechanisms governing synaptic plasticity at the cellular level are related to the flexibility of operations seen for large-scale neuronal networks. Big questions: Is there plasticity in the adult brain? Are more complex functions relying on the same mechansims of learning?